The Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has announced that three new nurses will join its eating disorder services team next month.

The organisation claims that the new recruits will offer additional programmes of support, including individual and group therapies, as well as meal support during home visits.

It is responsible for providing specialist mental health and learning disability services in both Surry and North East Hampshire, as well as drug and alcohol services for Surrey and Hounslow.

Jo Lynch, the trust's general manager for the trust's specialist children and young people's services.

She told Elmbridge Today: “This is one of the biggest shifts in focus for our service in recent years.

“It means that young people and their families will be spared the disruption and distress of a hospital stay, often far away from home.

“We’ll also be able to continue to work very closely with parents to skill them up to be able to continue to tackle eating disorders at home and not become dependent on hospital stays."

She added that giving parents the right level of support would stand to greatly increase the chances of young patients making a recovery.

Ms Lynch also revealed the group were working more closely with hospitals where young patients are admitted for short periods of time, ensuring the creation of better relationships with these people and their families.

The news comes after the announcement that a new eating disorders service in Norton, near Stockton, is now taking referrals for sufferers from Teesside, County Durham, Darlington, and Richmondshire.

The move is significant as it is the first service of its kind to cater for these regions, with patients previously having to be admitted to the specialist in-patient unit at Darlington's West Park Hospital.

The new service is to be operated by specialist NHS professionals that will offer the support that patients need, without having to be admitted to hospital.

Written by Alex Franklin Stortford

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